


Being a Man.

by RedStarFiction



Category: Outlander & Related Fandoms, Outlander Series - Diana Gabaldon
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-25
Updated: 2015-10-25
Packaged: 2018-04-28 02:27:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5073784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedStarFiction/pseuds/RedStarFiction
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>*Potential spoilers for those who have not read the books*</p><p>This continues on from my first work in as much as it further explores Jamie learning to be a father. Throughout the books we see how important his family are to him and how he responds to them but really Fergus was his first experience of fatherhood and responding to children and the only chance he and Claire actually had to raise a child together as a young couple.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Being a Man.

Jamie stood awkwardly in the doorway of Fergus' bedroom watching as Claire examined his foot. The boy had his teeth firmly set in his bottom lip and was clearly doing his best not to cry.  
“Well, it's in there quite deeply but I should be able to get it out easily enough.”  
Claire said straightening and giving Fergus what she hoped was an encouraging smile  
“Will it be very painful Milady?”  
Fergus' voice was tight with worry and Claire drew him into a hug, feeling her chest tighten at the way he gripped her back.  
“No it won't be very painful but it will hurt a little bit. I know it doesn't feel like it but you're actually very lucky, the nail has missed all of the little bones in your foot and although it hurts, it will heal quickly enough.”  
“Thank ye Milady,”  
Fergus' voice shook, and he looked guiltily up at her.  
“I … I am not verra keen on the …. ah … vue du sang.”  
He confided; apparently even saying the word blood in English was too much for him at the moment.  
“That's alright, not many people are.”  
Claire smiled, trying to soothe him. He looked thoroughly pale and she was rather worried he was going to vomit or faint or both. She looked at Jamie over the top of Fergus' head and opened her eyes wide. Jamie pursed his lips but made no move to enter the room.   
“I am going to get some whiskey to help prevent any infection and aid the healing but I will be right back.”  
Claire said brightly, kissing Fergus' forehead and striding towards her husband.   
“I think I may need you to hold him.”  
Claire said briskly as soon as they were out of earshot of her patient. She needed whiskey and her small clamp to draw the thing out smoothly first time. The whiskey was no problem, as always a bottle was readily to hand, but she had no idea where the clamp was.  
“I dinna think he needs to be held Sassenach. He shouldna ha' been runnin' around wi'out his shoes, it's his own foolish fault.”  
Claire paused in her rummaging and shot him a look. Jamie shrugged  
“He's eleven years old Claire, he has to learn to take responsibility for his actions.”  
Jamie spoke firmly but Claire only rolled her eyes at him.  
“He is about to have a nail extracted from the ball of his foot, I think he is feeling the consequences of his actions.”  
“Aye an' I hope he will be dissuaded from bein' sae daft in the future.”  
Jamie said stubbornly.  
“I'm sure he will, but at the moment he is frightened and hurt and needs a little compassion.”  
Claire could feel herself getting angry, but Jamie didn't seem moved by her words at all.  
“Aye, an' no thrashing him for messin' around by the milpond – which is where I found the wee fool's boots by the way - seems fairly compassionate to me.”  
“For Christ's sake Jamie! He has a nail in his foot! He needs comfort! He's a child!”   
Claire exploded, trying to keep her voice low enough not to carry to Fergus down the hall.  
“Claire ...”  
Jamie began, his voice dangerously low but Claire was beyond angry now and in no mood for a lecture.  
“Jamie, you're being ridiculous. What sort of person denies a child in pain comfort?!”  
“Men dinna have the luxury of bein' able to rely on others for comfort.”  
Jamie insisted, although even to his own ears he suspected that he sounded like an arse. Claire snorted in response, confirming his suspicions.  
“If you don't want to help, go away. I haven't got time to argue with you about it and I don't know where I've put my bloody clamp!”  
She snapped. Jamie drew a deep breath through his nose and folded his arms.  
“Ye wee clamp is in ye bag, I saw it last night when ye were sorting wee Jamie's scraped knee.”  
Claire seized the bag and sure enough the clamp was in there.   
“Thank you.”  
She huffed, picking up the whiskey bottle and turning to go back to Fergus. Jamie caught her arm and gave her a long, level stare.  
“Claire, I ken ye love the lad, I do too, but fussin' o'er his every scrape is no' the way to make a man of him.”  
“I am not fussing over him...”  
“Aye ye are, I used to come home wi' all sorts o' injuries an' I was lucky if my Da cleaned me up and let me go wi'out a sore arse to add to my woes for bein' sae stupid in the first place.”  
Claire rolled her eyes at him again and tutted  
“Children have accidents, they don't need to be punished for them.”  
Jamie nodded and smiled slightly  
“As it happens I agree wi' ye. My father was normally fair but I didna always feel he was being so in those moments and I told ye I dinna intend to punish the lad.”  
“Good,”  
Claire answered firmly  
“But Fergus doesn't like the sight of blood and I can't remove the nail and hold him steady and reassure him at the same time. If you won't do it, please ask Jenny to come in. She might understand a little more about what is needed and be less of a brute about it!”  
With that Claire brushed his hand off of her arm and marched past. Jamie let her go, watching her walk angrily away.  
“Infrinn!”  
He muttered to himself.  
Claire breezed brightly into Fergus' room, forcing her quarrel with Jamie to the back of her mind.  
“Right let's get this out shall we?”  
She said, forcing as much cheerful confidence into her voice as she could manage.  
Fergus nodded, distinctly less confident and sat back on his bed, gripping the quilt tight.  
“Yes Milady.”  
He squeaked and held his foot out although expecting the bone saw.  
“I'm going to wipe some whiskey around the wound, it'll sting a little.”  
Claire warned, taking his foot into her lap and pouring a little of the liquid onto a cloth. Fergus nodded, looking away and squeezing his eyes shut.  
“Hold on Sassenach.”  
Jamie walked purposefully into the room and crossed to the bed, settling himself around Fergus. The boy's face lit with relief and Claire saw Jamie blush slightly upon noticing it.  
“Milord?”  
“Aye,”  
Jamie nodded, reaching down and taking a firm grip on the boys skinny leg, looked him straight in the eye, his expression stern.  
“I'll hold ye steady and ye grip my hand as hard as ye need to while Milady gets the wee thing out of ye foot.”  
Fergus nodded mutely.  
“I dinna wish to hear any shrieking mind, but if ye need to you may say “Enfer!” an' thump my leg, alrigh'? Cursin' is verra effective pain management.”  
Fergus grinned back at him, the boy had a natural bent for foul language and being given permission to say it was better than any kiss on the brow Jamie could have offered.  
“Oui Milord! How about? Connard Fils de Pute!”  
Jamie looked a little taken aback but nodded.  
“Ah … Aye. That'll do.”  
Claire smiled at them both and gave Jamie's hand on Fergus' leg a quick squeeze.  
“Right. Ready?”  
“Oui!”  
Fergus nodded and Claire quickly swabbed the area, making the boy hiss through his teeth, and then carefully gripped the stubby end of the nail with the clamp and drew it out.   
Fergus used his cursing rights more creatively than even Jamie had envisioned but didn't cry and even managed to hold a trembling hand out to receive the nail once Claire had wiped it down, not wanting to present Fergus with the sight of blood.  
“Morceau de merde!"  
He sniffed at it, managing as much disdain as the noblest French aristocrat, and then threw it into the fire place.   
Jamie looked at Claire, his eyes held hers and he bowed his head slightly in acknowledgement.  
"Well done Sassenach."

Later, in their own bed, Jamie pulled Claire close and buried his face in her hair, sighing contentedly.  
"I love it when ye get fierce wi' me Sassenach, it makes me sae fired up and yet I canna be truly angry when I feel sae … aroused."  
he murmured pressing himself gently against her  
"It was one o' the first things I loved about ye. Yon foul wee temper."  
Claire laughed, that deep laugh of hers that made his stomach flutter.   
"You don't seem so sure when it's happening!"  
"Och, weel, when it's happening I'm thinkin' about what I'd do to ye had ye not made me swear an oath."  
"Oh ! Violence is it?!"  
Claire asked, still smiling and Jamie took a firm grip on the object of his vengeful thoughts making her squirm and squeak against him.  
"Not only violence mo nighean donn, other far more wicked things!"  
Claire gripped him tightly, causing a squeak of his own  
"I don't recall an oath about those things."  
Jamie said something under his breath and Claire squinted at him accusingly  
"I said : If I had made such an oath, I'd gladly break it."  
Jamie grinned, shifting so that Claire lay beneath him, his body draped over hers.  
"Ye ken I canna resist a foul mouthed, ill tempered wee Sassenach who tells me I'm being a buffoon when I'm being one."  
"So you acknowledge that do you?"  
She asked teasingly and Jamie narrowed his eyes at her  
"As a matter of fact I do. A lad does need to learn how to be a man but I think ye maybe showed me today that there are better ways. Besides,"  
He shrugged nonchalantly   
"I intend to ha' many bairns wi' ye Sassenach and I dinna mean for them to think me a brute, I'm a wee bit fashed about their mothers temper aye"  
Claire thrust her hips up impatiently  
"Mmmm. Rightly so! I believe 'Vixen' was a term previously used."  
"Och aye, a braw vixen..."  
Jamie moved into her and Claire gasped, gripping his shoulders and arching her back.  
"Jamie..."  
He smiled, rocking gently against her  
"Do ye truly think me a brute Sassenach?"  
He asked and Claire opened her eyes, locking onto his. He had a strange expression on his face, halfway between teasing and concern and she took his face between her hands, pulling him down to kiss his lips and smooth away any doubts  
"No Jamie Fraser, I do not think you're a brute."  
She whispered and kissed from his mouth down to his collar bone, nipping his shoulder with her teeth.  
"Now stop worrying and show me some of these wicked things..."  
Jamie ducked his head to her breast, kissing and lightly flicking his tongue against her pale skin.  
"Aye my wee vixen, I'll show ye some o' mine and ye show me a few of yours."


End file.
